I have no idea where the name "Elgin" came from...it's not the city or neighborhood name...

At one time I used to use one of the of the crank phone service (possibly) still in use (as far as I know) is in Cecilville, CA (Siskiyou County)...the locals use it to connect to the rest of the world...it was called the "Hoot & Hollar"...a single line run through the trees to the east, perhaps to Gazelle, Callahan, Etna, or Weed...You'd count the long and short rings to see if the call was for you...we'd talk to the operator in Yreka, it wasn't great but it worked as long as everybody kept fresh 1.5 volt battery cells in your phone battery box, and a falling tree didn't bring the line down...it's possible this old phone line is no longer in use, and has been replaced by microwave links (popular in mountain areas and less costly than copper hardwire circuits)

In the Bay area of L A (Lawndale) we had OSborne. A block away (Gardena) it was DAvis, and a short distance north (Inglewood) was ORchard. No area code, if you wanted Long distance you dialed "O" and asked for the LD Operator, gave her the city and number and then requested Station-to-Station or person-to-person, giving the person's name in the latter case.

Of course, this old codger remembers the KI-mball 8 numbers and when they came in! Supposedly, the word was easier to remember than the long string of numbers. But i also remember just picking up the phone and asking the operator for "33" ( I was quite young then and sometimes she thought I was saying, "free free"). I also remember - in awe - that my friend's father had a 2nd phone in his "study". No more running through the house to answer that blasted ringing! OMG.........maybe someday we'll have a 2nd phone upstairs so we don't have to run down in the night to answer the phone in the front hall!

In th eold days you couldn't hook any device to your phone line...if you wanted a spearker phone you had to rent it at high cost from Ma (Pacific) Bell...

It wasn't until later, after much lawyer-ing, that you could hook up that prized consumer device: the answering machine...

My 1st answering machine had 3" open reel to reel tape...I think it was a Phone Mate...primative yet it revolutionized phone use... I still keep a standard desk model 2500 Touch Tone phone on standby, in case my fancy phone dies (such as during power outages)...

Our small town (1 mile wide and18 streets deep) was divided into 2 exchanges ORchard 3 and GLendale 3 as I remember. Yes I can still remember the phone number also. Might I suggest that we can still remember these numbers because they were the only ones we had to remember. Everyone knew where we lived so we didn't really need our address.

We did not have a party line but my grandmother did out in the country. I remember being so amazed at how she could tell whether the phone was for us or not. I was not old enough to understand the long and short rings. TM

Dearfolk, Commerce, Georgia was FEderal. Wauchula, Florida was PRospect. Bowling Green, Fl. was FRontier. Zolfo Springs, Fl. (added a bit later) was ROdeo. Lakeland, Fl. was MUtual. My drug store uses the same phone number that was awarded it when Athens received dial service in April, 1954. I had my land line shut off a few years ago. We, too, had used the same number, LIberty 3-5089, since 1954... 50+ years was long enough. Wholeheartedly, Ort. Carlton in 20601-land.

I'm old enough now to remember when we had a party line and my parents being really upset at some neighbors who would hog up the phone line and prevent you frommaking a call. You coulod also listen in on calls or have your calls heard.

Everyone can remember what their phone number was 60 yrs ago, but can't remember what they had for breakfast yesterday.........what's up with that..................I was going to say something else, but, I forgot what it was................